His marble jaws, and yielded back to life His putrid dead. But what could all avail ? Insulted, scorn'd, betray'd by those He lov'd, He fell. Yet bleeding on the accursed tree, While the last breath hung quivering on His lips, His mercy still endured. Towards heaven He cast The last faint glances of His closing eye, Forgive them, O forgive !-He bowed, and died.
YE sons of Abraham, who, from shore to shore, Examples of predicted vengeance, roam; And still, as erst your sires in days of yore, Sigh for Jerusalem, your ancient home:
Behold them weeping in the willowy vale,
Where smooth Euphrates leads his silver train; And while their Sion forms each plaintive tale, Mute is the lyre, and dumb the vocal strain.
Their lot is your's. Insulted, scorned, ye rove, Far from Judæa's fields, a vagrant crew: Your sires from Salem foul rebellion drove ; 'Tis foul rebellion points GOD's wrath at you.
They fell, by false idolatries entic'd;
you stiff pride and hatred spread the snare ; They chained the prophets, but ye slew the CHRIST; They stoned the servants, but ye killed the Heir.
Yet ah! repent; JEHOVAH still is good; With pitying eye He sees you from above. O come, and drink your dear REDEEMER'S blood; O kneel with rev'rence at the feast of love!
So to your heritage, the promised land,
Your GOD once more His scattered tribes shall bring;
Again on Moriah's mount His shrine shall stand, And CHRIST shall reign, an universal King.
THY justice, HEAV'NLY KING! and that great Day, When Virtue, long abandoned and forlorn, Shall raise her pensive head ; and Vice, that erst, Ranged unreproved and free, shall sink appall'd; I sing advent❜rous. But what eye can pierce The vast immeasurable realms of
O'er which MESSIAH drives His flaming car To that bright region, where enthroned He sits, First-born of Heaven, to judge assembled worlds, Cloth'd in celestial radiance! Can the Muse, Her feeble wing all damp with earthly dew, Soar to that bright empyreal, where around Myriads of angels, GOD's perpetual choir, Hymn hallelujahs; and in concert loud Chaunt songs of triumph to their MAKER's praise? Yet will I strive to sing, albeit unus'd
To tread poetic soil. What, though the wiles
Of Fancy me enchanted ne'er could lure To rove o'er fairy lands; to swim the streams That through her vallies weave their mazy way; Or climb her mountain tops; yet will I raise My feeble voice, to tell what harmony (Sweet as the music of the rolling spheres) Attunes the moral world: that Virtue still
May hope her promised crown; that Vice may dread Vengeance, though late; that reas'ning Pride may
Just, though unsearchable, the ways of Heaven.
Sceptic! whoe'er thou art, who say'st the soul, That divine particle which God's own breath Inspired into the mortal mass, shall rest Annihilate, 'till Duration has unrolled Her never-ending line; tell, if thou know'st, Why ev'ry nation, ev'ry clime, though all In laws, in rites, in manners disagree, With one consent expect another world, Where wickedness shall weep? Why Paynim bards Fabled Elysian plains, Tartarean lakes, Styx and Cocytus? Tell why Hali's sons Have feign'd a paradise of mirth and love, Banquets and blooming nymphs? Or rather tell Why, on the brink of Orellana's stream, Where never Science reared her sacred torch, Th' untutor'd Indian dreams of happier worlds Behind the cloud-topt hill? Why in each breast Is placed a friendly monitor, that prompts, Informs, directs, encourages, forbids.? Tell, why on unknown evil grief attends;
Or joy on secret good? Why conscience acts With tenfold force, when sickness, age, or pain Stands tott'ring on the precipice of death? Or why such horror gnaws the guilty soul Of dying sinners; while the good man sleeps Peaceful and calm, and with a smile expires?
Look round the world! with what a partial hand The scale of bliss and misery is sustain'd! Beneath the shade of cold obscurity
Pale Virtue lies; no arm supports her head, No friendly voice speaks comfort to her soul, Nor soft-ey'd Pity drops a melting tear;
But in their stead, Contempt and rude Disdain Insult the banish'd wanderer: on she goes Neglected and forlorn: Disease and Cold And Famine, worst of ills, her steps attend; Yet patient, and to Heaven's just will resign'd, She ne'er is seen to weep, or heard to sigh. Now turn your eyes to yon sweet-smelling bow'r, Where flushed with all the insolence of wealth Sits pamper'd Vice! For him th' Arabian gale Breathes forth delicious odours; Gallia's hills For him pour nectar from the purple vine. Nor think for these he pays the tribute due
To Heav'n of Heaven he never names the name;
Save when with imprecations dark and dire He points his jest obscene. Yet buxom Health Sits on his rosy cheek; yet Honour gilds His high exploits; and downy-pinioned Sleep Sheds a soft opiate o'er his peaceful couch,
See'st Thou this, righteous FATHER!
Thou this, And wilt Thou ne'er repay? Shall good and ill Be carried, undistinguished, to the land
Where all things are forgot?-Ah! no; the day Will come, when Virtue from the cloud shall burst That long obscur'd her beams; when Sin shall fly Back to her native hell; there sink eclips'd In penal darkness, where nor star shall rise, Nor ever sunshine pierce th' impervious gloom.
On that great Day the solemn trump shall sound, (That trump which once in heaven on man's revolt Convok'd th' astonished seraphs) at whose voice Th'unpeopled graves shall pour forth all their dead. Then shall th' assembled nations of the earth, From ev'ry quarter at the Judgment Seat Unite; Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Parthians; and they who dwelt on Tyber's banks, Names fam'd of old; or who of later age, Chinese and Russian, Mexican and Turk, Tenant the wide Terrene; and they who pitch Their tents on Niger's banks: or, where the sun Pours on Golconda's spires his early light, Drink Ganges' sacred stream. At once shall rise Whom distant ages to each other's sight Had long denied. Before the throne shall kneel Some great progenitor, while at his side
Stands his descendant through a thousand lines. Whate'er their nation, and whate'er their rank, Heroes and patriarchs, slaves and sceptered kings, With equal eye the GOD of all shall see;
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